U.S. Military Comes to Battelle for Rapid Prototyping of Lethality

When the U.S. Army needs assistance designing, fabricating and testing new technology for the field, they call on qualified companies for help. Battelle, a leader in defense technology, is one of them.

Battelle's expertise in armament and munitions research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E), and product engineering and development combine to make it uniquely suited to identify emerging technologies for legacy munition improvement and to create new weapons performance capabilities.

For example, the Army wants to simplify and update complex 40mm ammunition designs to improve performance and affordability by taking advantage of modern manufacturing processes and new -- better performing -- materials. Battelle assembled a team of ammunition industry leaders to tackle the issue. The Battelle team analyzed technical data packages and quality assurance criteria to generate prototype 40mm grenade designs that are easier to manufacture, have fewer components and cost the less to procure. In addition, the group manufactured prototypes for test and evaluation and produced verification of the improved designs.

In another project, Battelle researchers and engineers performed manufacturing analysis of small arms weapons, such as machine guns. Battelle experts examined the materials used in the weapons, the tolerance stack for each component in the systems and the quality assurance metrics, identified issues and made recommendations to resolve them. The results were technical data packages that were consistent and easy to manufacture.